


Where do We Go from Here?

by LilLegalLoli94



Series: Dirty Dancing Universe [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Ballerina Adora, Ballerina Catra, Childhood Friends, Dirty Dancing AU, Emotional Support, F/F, Flashback Chapter, Fluff, identity crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilLegalLoli94/pseuds/LilLegalLoli94
Summary: After 10 years of ballet, Catra figures that the style isn't for her. But then...what is?---A short childhood story within the Dirty Dancing AU
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Dirty Dancing Universe [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566871
Comments: 7
Kudos: 94





	Where do We Go from Here?

**Author's Note:**

> After dropping that Catra used to do ballet, I wanted to do a short oneshot of the moment she decided to quit. Hope you enjoy

There was a little fact of life that came with growing up in Mrs. Weaver’s foster home: you _must_ attend her dance school. For two hours after school, five nights a week, the girls of Mrs. Weaver’s house would have to attend her ballet lessons if they wanted to remain remotely in her favor. Didn’t matter if they were gifted, interested or had any sort of talent, she would make fine ballerinas out of them.

Due to these circumstances, a young Catra had to adopt ballet as a regular part of life since she was a small child. It could have been worse. Catra always recalled looking back on the strenuous training and back-breaking labor she would put into her practice. She could have been completely alone in all her struggles, but she was lucky enough to find a good friend in her bunkmate. Always there for her, always lending her a helping hand, always pulling her out of her self-deprecating funks and giving her everything she ever needed the most.

They were always working together, partnering with each other, much to Mrs. Weaver’s disdain. The freckle-faced girl could never understand what the old hag saw in her that drove the woman to be so hard on her. In her best fantasies, she liked to imagine that the woman just saw something remarkable in the young girl, something to vigorously polish and work until she was shining brilliantly like a shimmering diamond. However, when reality clocked her square in the jaw, she was left with the bitter reminder that the woman just saw nothing in Catra, nothing worth her time anyway. Every cold correction and slap to her joints just persisted in the message that she’ll never be good enough. No matter how much she improved, how well she performed, it was never enough.

Almost ten years of her life was devoted to this inadequate lifestyle. Ten years of performing a dance that was never her own. Ten years of pretending like the lie was her truth, until she couldn’t stomach the idea of living on indefinitely like this was too much for her to bear. She wanted out. She didn’t know where she would go afterward but she wanted out now before she wasted any more of her days on something so meaningless.

There was just the eight graders’ spring recital. She just had to survive until the end of the recital…

“That’s it for today’s lesson. This will be our last class together until the summer so use this time to perfect and polish your routines.” Mrs. Weaver’s eyes fell to Catra, “Don’t go wasting it on trivial, meaningless activities. Do you understand?” she spoke like she was addressing the whole class but the way her eyes bore into Catra, the way her cold gaze made her feel small and burdensome, made the young teen feel like she was solely talking to her.

The whole class acknowledged their instructor’s warning while Catra pursed her lips and averted from the woman’s icicle gaze.

The girls ran out from the building, eager to take back their after-school freedom while Catra dragged her feet getting back to the foster home. Adora, who felt just as eager and ecstatic as the other girls, bounded up behind her friend, the straps of her backpack slung around one shoulder as she leaped to Catra’s side.

“Hey Catra!” she greeted, patting the girl’s back as she finally caught up.

Catra’s body stiffened slightly at the friendly gesture, returning a weak, forced smile as she met the beaming gaze. “Hey Adora…” she breathed out the tension in her shoulders.

“You feeling alright? You look a bit pale.” the blonde moved herself in closer, starting at Catra’s face to get a good look at her complexion.

The other’s face drew back, shifting her gaze so Adora couldn’t see her eyes. Although she knew her friend was denser than lead, she did have her moment of picking apart her facial expressions with more accuracy than she felt comfortable with.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just… nerves, I guess.” she hoped the fib was enough to fool the blonde.

Adora’s eyes narrowed, trying to dissect the answer and pair it with her best friend’s face. She stared for a moment longer before smiling, “C’mon, what do you have to be nervous about? You’re the best dancer in there by far. Well, excluding me, of course.” she teased with a smug smirk on her lips, gesturing to herself with a hand pressed to her chest.

Catra couldn’t help but chuckle, shoving her friend slightly to get her to get over herself.

Adora laughed with her as she stumbled back onto the grass before taking up residence by her side, hooking an arm around the freckled lass’s neck and pulling her in close. “Seriously though, you’re the most beautiful and talented out there. You’ve always been awesome and you’ll be awesome again.”

Catra’s smile softened. Even if she decided this wasn’t for her, it still made her feel incredible to hear how highly Adora considered her ballet. She laughed softly, pushing down the heated feeling rising up in her cheeks as she looked towards her friend. “That’s so gay…” she told her.

Adora’s eyes widened and then narrowed with an impish grin, “Oh, I haven’t even started.” she warned her before puckering her lips dramatically and inching herself closer to Catra’s cheek.

Catra squealed, squeezing herself out of Adora’s looping grip before she could plant a kiss on her. “Quit it!” she laughed as she dodged the blonde’s charge.

“But I haven’t showed you my undying love today!” Adora called out, chasing the girl down the block.

“I don’t need it!” she answered, keeping her distance away from the blonde’s overzealous affection. Luckily for her, she was always the faster one.

“But _I_ need it! I need you~” Also unfortunately for her, the blonde had some serious stamina.

“Adora!”

She chased her past the girls that were headed to the same destination, past the convenience stores and gas stations and all the way back home. She was absolutely winded by the time they got back to the foster house but at least her mind wasn’t as preoccupied as before, granting her a moment of solace and contentment with her life as it was.

***

If she could, she’d rather blow off practice indefinitely, but she couldn’t. She could if it were just her performance on the line but it wasn’t and she couldn’t drag Adora down with her selfish desires. That would be giving Mrs. Weaver just the ammo she needed to prove she had always been right.

The music played out of the boombox and her arms and legs moved in accordance but she wasn’t feeling it. She wasn’t feeling any of it. Her mind remained elsewhere during their practice and, although it wasn’t what she wanted, their performance was suffering because of it.

Adora lifted her light body off the ground and held her up for longer than she needed to, waiting for her friend to notice.

Catra blinked out of her headspace, looking down at the blonde with a raised brow. “What?”

“Catra, what’s wrong?” her friend asked, still holding her so she couldn’t escape.

“Wha-nothing,” she answered, averting her eyes as those blue eyes stared into her soul, like they were peeling her open and gazing into her squishy, vulnerable core. “I’m fine…”

“You’re not,” Adora responded quickly. Looks like today was a good day for the blonde’s intuition. “C’mon Catra, you can tell me, can’t you?” she asked, her eyes pleading to hear her best friend’s ailment, to help in any way she could.

Catra shared into those glistening blue orbs, feeling her will to resist and continue to bottle everything up waning before such powerful puppy-dog eyes. She sighed first, “Can you put me down?” she asked. If she was going to speak, she was going to speak on her own two feet.

Adora lowered her gently to the ground and Catra walked herself over to the radio, clicking the button to turn off the classical music. She moved herself closer to the wall, sitting against it and hugging her knees close to her chest. Adora walked closer, taking a seat next to her and watching her quietly.

“I…want to quit ballet.” It was the first time she admitted it out loud and it sounded so strange given a voice.

“Oh,” the blonde whispered in response. It was all she could think to say after the initial shock. They fell silent, the statement lingering in the air before Adora thought to continue the conversation. “Can I ask why you want to quit?”

“It’s just…” Catra considered her words carefully, “It’s not me, you know? I don’t really feel good about the idea of committing myself to becoming a professional ballerina like Mrs. Weaver wants us to.” she answered, her chin sinking into her legs and hiding her face.

Adora thought her answer over, contemplated its meaning and let it engrave itself into their dialogue. “I mean, you don’t have to be a professional. You can still do it as a hobby, can’t you? You’re so good at it.”

“Just because I’m good at it doesn’t mean I like it!” Catra’s voice grew harsh, a glare seeping deep into her mismatched gaze as she looked towards the blonde. “We can’t all be like you: being good at what you do and like doing it too.”

Adora looked taken back by the biting tone, helplessly staring into the glare without knowing what to do.

Catra couldn’t hold onto her irritation, letting out an exasperated sigh as she turned her head away. “Sorry, I’m not mad at you, I’m just… this is really stressing me out…” The grip on her legs tightened, her nails biting into her stockings, threatening to pierce the sheer material.

The blonde relaxed, wrapping an arm around her friend’s shoulder and letting her lean against her body. “Why is it stressful? Isn’t it good to quit if you don’t like it?”

“But this is all I’ve ever known,” she muttered into her knees, “After I quit, what next? It’s not like I want to go on pointlessly day after day. What if I never find something?” her shoulders began to tremble, her face sinking away further to hide the tears peeking from the corner of her eyes.

“C’mon, you’re way too smart and talented for that. You’ll figure something out, I know you will.” Adora’s hands rubbed at her arm, stroking her in slow, easy motions until her trembling stopped. “And if you want, I can help figure things out with you.”

“Really?” her blue eye turned to look towards the blonde, watching the smile spread across her face.

“Of course! We look out for each other, right? we’ll figure it out together.”

Catra moved her head to look up at Adora, smiling gently as she rubbed her eyes dry. She still didn’t know what she was going to do with herself, but she definitely felt better knowing she didn’t have to go through it alone.

Adora chuckled softly, happy to see the smile come back to her friend’s face before lifting herself off the ground and dusting off the back of her leggings with her hands. “Now then, why don’t we get changed and head to the arcade?” she suggested as she held a hand out for the dark haired girl to take.

Catra huffed a short laugh, “Shouldn’t we be practicing?” she asked, a hand reaching and gripping onto the offering and pulling herself up with the assist.

“Nah, we’ve already done plenty. It’s about time we got to play!”

Catra gasped, “Adora, the golden prodigy, would rather play than work? I thought I knew you.”

“What’s that? Did you say ‘kiss me, Adora’? Well, if you insist.” Adora pulled at Catra’s hand, tightening as Catra tried to pull away.

“What? No! What is with you?” Catra yelped, the blonde maneuvering their feet until she had tumbled over, leaving Adora to fall on top of her. “Get off of me!” she laughed, feeling Adora’s puckering lips press kisses to her cheeks.

“In a minute, I gotta kiss all your freckles!” Adora answered before pressing another smiling kiss to her face.

***

Despite everything that happened, despite the utter loneliness that was to follow, Catra couldn’t consider those memories as anything less than fond.


End file.
